Fall Projects Continued...

  As you may have noticed, our new ProAngle bunker sand continues to steadily roll in from Ohio. To this point, we have received approximately half of our expected amount of sand. In the coming weeks, the full amount will be delivered.

Our current sand pile.

  Country Landscapes continues their work on the rock wall on #17. In the previous week, their work has been slowed by rainfall; however, yesterday they got back up to full speed.

Large rocks were placed at the base to support the new wall.

The new wall begins to take shape.

   As you may remember, last year we installed new drainage and liner in the greenside bunkers on #13 and #16. The old sand was gently removed from these bunkers by hand and then the liner was blown off with back-pack blowers. Finally, the new ProAngle sand was added to finish the bunkers. These bunkers are currently ready for play.

Cleaning the bunker liner on #16.

The new ProAngle bunker sand in #16.

  Today, we will remove sand from our final bunker before we refocus our efforts to installing the new drainage, liner, and ProAngle sand in the remaining bunkers.

Bunker Renovations

 Bunker renovations are under way.  We will describe the process with the pictures below.

We rented several pieces of equipment to expedite the process.

The first step is to scrape away the old sand.

Even with large machines much of the work is still done by hand.

We haul the old sand away using our large material handler.  The old sand will be stockpiled at various locations on the property.

We will be spreading the old sand throughout the rough  using a large sand topdresser.  Hopefully we will significantly reduce or eliminate the need pay a trucking company to haul out the old sand.

This picture shows the layering affect contaminants have on the sand.  The layering of fine soil particles prevents water infiltration- this is a one of the reasons why our bunkers did not drain!

We then remove all the old drain pipe and clean the trenches in preparation for new pipe.

We have begun purchasing many of the materials.  Pictured above is 2000' of drain pipe.

We will also make any necessary adjustments to the sub-grade to allow for optimal sand depth.

20 rolls of Sand Trapper II Bunker Liner.

We just received our first load of bunker sand.

We will be utilizing ProAngle bunker sand which is being delivered all the way from Ohio!  This sand will perform much better than our old sand and has a beautiful white color.  One semi load is 25 tons and we estimate that we will need approximately 2000 tons to complete the project.  The new sand must be delivered on concrete in the club parking lot to keep it clean of all contaminants.

Principal Charity Classic and Course Renovations

The Wakonda Club Grounds Department is excited to be hosting the Principal Charity Classic for the next few years.  Hosting a tournament of this magnitude will be a challenging but rewarding endeavor for our staff.

We are always looking for ways to improve the golf course for our membership but with the Champions Tour coming to Wakonda we are now scrambling to make more improvements sooner.  We have a seemingly endless project & course improvement list that we have been prioritizing to focus our labor where most needed.  The good news is that the golf course is already in good condition and the improvements made will have lasting effects for our members to enjoy.

The two largest projects, which will have the most dramatic impact on playability and aesthetics, are already under way.  Country Landscapes has begun reconstructing the failing rock wall on #17 while your Wakonda Grounds Staff has taken on the monumental task of refurbishing the bunkers.

Below are pictures of work being done on the rock wall.

The old rock wall: "before."

All the old rocks were removed by October 9th.

Some of the stones will be reused while there will be some new larger stones added to improve stability of the new wall.

The pond is partially drained to provide access for the crew and to allow for the construction of a footing made of crushed limestone which the old wall did not have. 

The crew is working out of an empty lot north of 5 tee which we have permission to use throughout the project.

We constructed a long mulch path to the job site to mitigate damage caused by the large machines.

The turf from the approach will be kept alive on plastic under a tree near 17 green.  We will reuse this sod once the project is complete.

This project should take approximately a month to complete.  While the project is in process golfers will play both holes at #2 to provide a full 18 hole course.  Once the wall is erected our staff will do the final grading and re- establish turf in impacted areas.